Daffodil
by our dancing days
Summary: "Narcissa used to want to be a Muggle princess, like the ones in the fairytales Andy secretly read to her. Druella broke her tiara when she was six." / 20 things you never knew about Narcissa Malfoy.


**20 things you never knew about Narcissa Malfoy, **or, **Daffodil.**

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><p><strong>1. <strong>The first person to call Narcissa "Cissy" was - predictably, if you knew anything about the girl at all - herself. She demanded that the small boy that she had joint tutoring with, for about two weeks, called her Cissy instead of that other, _horrid _name.

Andromeda left a daffodil outside her door and didn't speak to her for days.

**2. **Despite how often people complimented her on her elegant beauty, on her blonde hair and blue eyes, Narcissa always wished for that dark, twisted radiance that her sisters had. She wasn't plain, not at all, but she felt washed out next to them.

**3. **The first time Narcissa performed an Unforgivable; she was eleven years old and was taunted into it by her older, wiser sisters. She pretended like she enjoyed it, but the memory never left her mind.

Regulus was only four.

**4. **Narcissa once fell out of the tree she was climbing when she was seven. Lucius, when he saw the scar on her thigh, looked at it distastefully and never brought it up again.

**5. **In all honesty, she didn't want a daughter, like most mothers.

She wanted a son, because daughters meant nothing in pureblood families - they were ornaments, trinkets, to be kept at their husbands' sides. Narcissa didn't want to repeat her mistake.

**6. **When she was ten, Andromeda cast the Imperius on her, and made her dance atop the table. When her elder sister took the memory and showed it to her in the family pensieve, Narcissa smashed the offending object until it was nothing but rubble.

**7. **The first time Narcissa was pregnant, she was seventeen, engaged and straight out of school. She knew in her heart of hearts that the baby was a girl.

When she returned from St. Mungo's, Lucius asked her if she thought the kitchen walls were impregnable. Narcissa threw up what little food she had consumed in a basin, then ordered a house elf to clean up and never mention the incident to her husband.

To this day, her welcome dragon was a blessing, and her aborted daughter, a memory.

**8. **Narcissa used to want to be a Muggle princess, like the ones in the fairytales Andy secretly read to her. Druella broke her tiara when she was six.

**9. **He never said it.

She pretended he did, of course, when he was half-asleep and his murmurings were unintelligible, Narcissa pretended that Lucius was saying, "I love you." It was a nice memory, one that kept her sane and safe and warm when her own son wouldn't look her in the eyes anymore.

**10. **Narcissa had never liked Bellatrix.

Bella was harsh and impulsive and couldn't lie to save her worthless life. Cissy was cold and calculating and could lie to everyone but herself. Bellatrix was stubborn but fragile, and Narcissa was resilient but willing.

**11. **The first time she saw Lily Evans, Narcissa smiled at her.

It seemed odd now, when they were at opposite ends of the war, both encased in terror and want and need and motherly protectiveness that stayed with you for more than the required eighteen years and nine months. They both waited in solemn silence, wondering if their husbands and their friends would return that night.

But Lily stood up to Narcissa's cousin in the carriage - she was next door, listening to what they said - and she respected her. That respect never dwindled, even when the Hat called out Gryffindor.

**12. **Narcissa, when she was older and her tiara broken, wanted to be a dancer.

Her father cursed her only Muggle tap shoes to burn her feet if she tried to put them on.

**13. **Her mother once told Narcissa, when she was older, wiser, freer (a too old, too wise prisoner), when Daddy was out whoring with London and Mummy was on her third glass of Ogden's Finest, that divorce was the future tense of marriage.

"_We were married once," _Druella said, twisting the large, expensive glittering disco ball (an intrusive, guilt-ridden apology) on her finger and sighing, _"Once." _

**14. **Narcissa forgot to say she was sorry. And that was that.

**15. **"You can't leave, Dromeda," Narcissa begged, and pleaded, practically like a _Mudblood _already, "You can't leave me. They'll make me marry him-" she ignored the look that Andromeda gave her- "and carry on the line. I swear, _Andy,_ I'll be dead without you."

"I suppose that's true," Andromeda mused, clicking the clasp to her trunk shut with a too loud bang, "after all, somebody with a working brain would realise I'm already gone."

**16. **Narcissa was the only one of Druella's three daughters to have inherited their father's eyes.

Cygnus Black could lie his way out of Azkaban, too.

**17. **The Black sisters celebrated Halloween once. Narcissa herself was five years old, Andromeda was nine and Bellatrix was ten.

"You'll be a princess, Cissy," Andromeda had cooed, "like in those stories." She held aloft her younger sister's tiara. "And I'm going to be a witch."

"You're already a witch, Andy," Narcissa said quietly, but with a roll of her eyes, as if this should've been obvious to her older sister, "and Bella should be a - a mad prophecy lady!"

The two eldest laughed. "I bet I can guess our future from Mother's old Tarot cards. I think... Dromeda's going to meet a prince-" Andromeda giggled "- and Cissy's going to be a - a silent hero-" Narcissa clapped her hands "- and of course, I'm going to rule the world," Bellatrix predicted smugly. When Bellatrix went to Hogwarts, Halloween died with her innocence.

**18. **Andromeda had always been Narcissa's favourite.

Andy - later Dromeda, eventually That Blood Traitor Brat - was soft in a way Bellatrix never was, warm in a way Narcissa would never be. Narcissa loved her for it.

**19. **The last person to call Narcissa _Cissy _was - unpredictably - her son. "Cissy? How _common, _Mother." Draco never did ask after the charmed daffodil that sat on the Malfoy mantelpiece.

**20. **Her rebellion was a quiet one. "Dead."

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><p>I now currently have three other '20 things' up and posted - <strong>Star, Galaxy <strong>and **Amazon. **I have three more on the way - **Prince, Knight **and **Vision.**

Review?~


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